On the Run
by StephanieGranger
Summary: James and Lily fight for their lives when their home is attacked by an unwanted visitor...forced to flee, James and Lily Potter no longer know who they can trust, and their sons life is in grave danger  AU
1. The Potters' Escape

_I do not own Harry Potter or its characters._

_James and Lily fight for their lives when their house is attacked by an unwanted visitor..._

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The Potters' Escape

James Potter yawned as he stretched out on the sofa, carelessly discarding his wand. It had been a good day. Watching his son race around on his little toy broomstick never got old. He was so proud of his little boy amazed by how, even though he was too young to walk, was still able to fly like a natural. Lily wasn't quite as pleased as he was, after all it was she that had had to clean up the shattered vase her sister had sent her, although she had never liked it anyway. He cherished every moment with is son as most of his time was spent with the Order. When he was with his son, he could forget his troubles, and the fact that countless numbers of innocent people were being murdered throughout the country every day. He knew he was safe here, away from the worries of the world in his safe haven. After entertaining his son by blowing puffs of coloured smoke into the air, his beautiful wife Lily had taken Harry for a last feed before bed.

He heard a faint scream outside, although thought nothing of it, it was Halloween after all. Hearing a small click at the door, he got up expecting Sirius, his oldest friend. He had nothing to fear, after all, he trusted his friends with his life. Turning the corner into the hallway he caught a glimpse of the hooded figure gasped and yelled:

'Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-'

'Hold me off! With out a wand!' Letting out a manic laugh as he did so Voldemort screamed the curse 'Avada K-'

Thinking fast, James transformed into his animagus form, a stag, and before Voldemort could finish the curse James had hurdled towards him, and butting him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and causing his wand to fly up in the air, which James caught between his teeth and snapped in two, causing Voldemort to let out a scream in fury. Swiftly transforming back into himself he sprinted back into the living room and grabbing his wand hastily sent a petronus to the Order for help. Upstairs he heard screams a loud thump, shaking in horror, he rushed upstairs to find Voldemort slumped on the floor and a tear stained Lily in the corner desperately clinging onto their wailing son.

'He was going to kill our son James!' Shrilled Lily.

James glanced around the room, trying to piece together what had happened, there were scratch marks on his sons neck where it seemed that Voldemort had tried to strangle him, it looked as though he wasn't going to let the fact that he had no wand stop him. Lily, also wand-less and out of desperation had then smashed a copy of History Of Magic over Voldemorts head causing scarlet blood to trickle from his skull.

What had she done? Killed You Know Who without a wand? The snakelike man began to stir and started to groan slightly. James, thinking on his feet, murmured Levicorpus, causing Voldemort to hang, not exactly comically, by one foot in mid-air. Lily had never approved of this spell, but felt it OK in these circumstances.

'Lily, we need to get out of here. Now.'

Trembling, not quite believing what had just happened and not wanting to wait for Voldemort to wake, he grabbed Lily's hand and and and pulled her downstairs and out of the doorway. Their home's protective charms meant they couldn't apparate in the house. If only he had his invisibility cloak, then they would be able to leave unseen. Why had Dumbledore borrowed it anyway? It was not like he needed it, after all Dumbledore had other ways of becoming invisible. James, feeling desperately vulnerable, heard the unmistakable cracking noises of apparition in the distance. Not waiting around to see if they were Death Eaters or Order members, he grabbed Lily and his son, twisted on the spot and vanished into the night.

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_Written By stephaniegranger_

_I'm not sure weather to carry this on or just have it as a one shot, please review and tell me what you think!_


	2. The cottage

_I do not own harry potter_

_On the run - chapter 2_

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The cottage

Hastily casting the protective charms around the clearing, James' head was battling with his heart. The adrenalin was flooding thorough his veins and it took all his willpower to stay with his wife and son, who desperately needed him at that very moment in time. If it wasn't for them, he would have gone back to Godric's Hollow to finish Voldemort off himself. He just prayed that the Order had gotten there first, as he feared the death eaters would have not been too far away. His thoughts started to whirr around in his mind, trying to piece the puzzle together. He knew their lives had been in danger... Dumbledore had warned him, that's why he had set up the fidelius charm around their home in the first place.

Somehow, Voldemort had been able to waltz into their home, he knew he had been betrayed. Could it possibly be...

No! James refused to believe one of his closet friends could betray him, and hurriedly pushed this thought to the back of his mind. He had always been loyal to his friends and would have willingly died for any of them. However... the thought lingered as he realised what had been happening for the last year, the stuttering, the breaking out into a sweat whenever he saw James or Lily... James had known Peter Pettigrew since his first day at Hogwarts, he could tell when Peter was lying, but he had ignored the signs. He had merely thought at the time that Wormtail was worried for their safety. But now he knew otherwise.

It was so obvious now! Peter must have been feeding Voldemort vital information for just over a year! Why had he been so foolish as to change their Secret Keeper? He had ignored his gut instinct when they had persuaded him to make the swap. He knew Sirius had all the right intentions, knowing that the swap would through the Death Eaters off their scent. Peter had been overly enthusiastic about the whole thing, and after weeks of persistent prodding, he had reluctantly agreed, although he had said many times that Dumbledore would have been a better choice, and much more reliable.

Anger boiled up inside of him, he had been betrayed by one of his closest friends, he had been foolish, so so foolish as to trust someone like Wormtail... His stupid mistake had almost caused him loose all that was dear to him.

He rushed over to Lily who was still clutching her son, shaking

'You OK Lil?' He asked, his anger had melted away when he saw Lily, and was replaced with worry.

'I'm fine, just fine...Harry's fine too, I think...'

Her uncertain voice trailed away as James leaned over to inspect his son, and gasped when he saw the damage the deranged lunatic had done to him. Jagged scars covered his neck where he had nearly been strangled to death and where Voldemorts pincer-like nails had dug into his skin. Pulling out his wand again he attempted to heal the wounds, but he knew he would always bear some of the scars he had been afflicted. Putting his arm around his wife shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, he realised they couldn't stay here, he had just apparated to the first place he could think of, they were in a forest just off Mould On The Would, a part magical village James had sometimes visited with his family during their holidays.

'James, I... I think I left my wand!'

James' attention turned back to his wife, who had started to break down into tears beside him. He pulled her towards him, holding her close, and made a vow never to put her or Harry in danger again.

'It's OK, well get it back, but we can't go now, it's too dangerous.'

'What are we going to _do_ James?' She looked at her husband, her emerald eyes full of fear. She was normally so happy and confident, bossing him around, but now she needed him, he had to be strong for his family.

'Well,' he hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. 'First, we're going find somewhere to sleep, and then...'

James paused. He didn't know how to finish his sentence. What _were _they going to do? He started to go though all the places they could go in his mind. Hogwarts was defiantly out of the question. It would be one of the first places Voldemort would look. James didn't know how much Peter had given away, how much he had told the Death Eaters about the Order. He would try to contact Dumbledore as soon as he could but right now they needed to lie low.

James looked around the clearing, trying to figure out what to do. His thoughts turned back to his childhood.

_Ah, the perfect place_

'C'mon Lily,' he said, standing and helping his wife up, 'I know just the place. It's beautiful, you'll see!'

James led her out of the clearing, down an old, unused path into the forest. They kept on walking, until after a while they reached another small clearing. There was an old cottage, although it was now in ruins, Lily could see that it must once have been lovingly cared for.

'Me and Sirius used to come here all the time when we were younger, used to play pranks on the old couple who lived here, they didn't mind though, they liked the company.'

Cautiously, they crept along the worn path towards the house. James' face fell when he saw the state of the place. It looked different to how he remembered, the memories of the humble, sunny little cottage with thatched roof and beautiful flowering gardens soon faded in his mind. Crumbling ivy had wrapped itself around the cottage, suffocating it. The windows were boarded up, and the front garden was littered with wildly growing weeds. All along the path towered gnarled apple trees that had long since stopped giving fruit. It was a depressing sight and it was clear that no one had lived here for a long time. Lily was holding Harry close to her to protect him from the tall overgrown weeds and low branches from the trees, and James had begun to slash though the overgrown grass like an explorer in the Amazon. When they reached the front door, James reached out to hold Lily's hand.

'It will be OK Lily, don't you worry, we'll make it look nice, like a home.' He assured, and attempted a small smile.

With some difficulty they wrenched the door open, allowing some bats to fly out. Then, tightening their grip on each other, they stepped inside.

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_Written by StephanieGranger_

_thanks for reading_

_constructive criticism is welcome :)_


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